In recent decades, the study of congregations has captured the attention of sociologists of religion, revealing their vital role in American public life. Understanding these local religious organizations is more important than ever. This section provides engaging summaries of significant research projects centered on congregations, organized in roughly chronological order, showcasing the evolving landscape of this field.
What is congregational studies?
This discipline focuses on local religious groups, churches, synagogues, mosques, or congregations and their dynamics. Persons who conduct this research come from different academic perspectives (sociology, history, theology, psychology) and use different tools (surveys, observation, interviews, demographics), but they all have in common the desire to better understand the life and dynamics of the lived reality of faith communities.
The Handbook for Congregational Studies, edited by Jackson Carroll, Carl Dudley, and William McKinney in 1986, was the foundational text guiding this discipline. A sequel, Studying Congregations: A New Handbook, was published in 1998 and forms the basis of much of the Hartford Institute’s congregational studies research.
Current congregational research
Exploring the Pandemic Impact on Congregations: 2021-2026
Exploring the Pandemic Impact on Congregations: Innovation Amidst and Beyond COVID-19 is a five-year research project funded by Lilly Endowment Inc. This expansive initiative focuses on researching, collecting, and disseminating data about the possible changes and long-term implications the pandemic might have on religious life across the United States.
Our project is gathering both broad, nationally representative surveys and detailed ethnographic case studies of how religious congregations are changing and adapting in the wake of COVID-19. Through our website for this project, congregational and denominational leaders, religious scholars, and the general public will have free access to a growing repository of curated resources, practical tools, and guidance drawn from our own research and that of our cross-denominational partners. Visit the Exploring the Pandemic Impact on Congregations website.
Faith Communities Today: Cooperative Congregations Study Project (FACT): 2000 to present
The Faith Communities Today project is unique in its design and implementation. Although planning began in 1996, the survey was first conducted in 2000 and has been repeated six times. This entire project and the questionnaire development is a joint venture of researchers representing forty-two denominations and faith groups. Each religious group is responsible for surveying a representative sample of their congregations using a common core questionnaire.
Once the findings from these surveys are combined into a single dataset and weighted, it represents a national profile of over 50,000 congregations throughout its history. The response rates for these denominational surveys ranged from 5% to 97%, with an average response rate of 50%. Hartford Institute’s David Roozen and Carl Dudley began this cooperative study. Visit the Faith Communities Today website for more information.
Megachurch Study: 2000 to present
Hartford Institute faculty member Scott Thumma and Warren Bird of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability collaborate in the study of megachurches on a national level. They have performed national surveys of megachurches in 2000, 2005, 2008, 2010, 2015, and 2020. Additionally, they investigated the attitudes and interests of nearly 50,000 attendees of two dozen megachurches from 2007 to 2008.
This research aims to provide more accurate information about these large churches and track changes taking place in these innovative congregations. View the megachurch research page to read the research findings. You can also search our megachurch database.
National Congregations Study (NCS)
The National Congregations Study, conducted in 1998, was the first religious study to use a new sampling methodology technique to generate a high-quality, nationally representative sample of congregations. The NCS then gathered data from 1236 congregations using a one-hour interview with a key informant from each congregation. Ninety-two percent of these interviews were conducted over the telephone, and the remaining 8% were done in person. The response rate was 80% (1236 out of 1480 asked).
This study was directed by Dr. Mark Chaves of the University of Arizona. The NCS study has been replicated three additional times since the initial survey. Visit the NCS website, which includes findings, data downloads, and links to several articles written by Dr. Chaves.
Nondenominational Congregations Study
Using information gained from the Organizing Religious Work and the Faith Communities Today projects, this study looks specifically at those congregations without an explicit organizational tie to a formal denomination. This study is unique because very little is known about these independent and unaffiliated churches. The ongoing work has generated three surveys of these congregations and two national censuses of nondenominational congregations. Learn more about our nondenominational church research.
Project on Religion and Urban Culture
The Project on Religion and Urban Culture 1.0 was a multi-year, multi-disciplinary, team-based effort to collect data on 400 congregations located in 18 neighborhoods of Indianapolis. The extensive project collected both quantitative and qualitative data using personal interviews and on-site observations of worship services and other congregational and community-level activities from 1996 to 2002. The study provided information on several dozen religious-related organizations that focus on social welfare, race, and community development.
Dr. Arthur Farnsley and the Polis Center replicated this project from 2020 to 2022, titled Project Religion and Urban Culture 2.0. To view both research projects, visit the Polis Center’s website.
Past congregational research
Organizing Religious Work (ORW)
The Organizing Religious Work Project began in 1997 as a project of the Hartford Institute for Religious Research. The full project entailed over 70 researchers and associates throughout the country looking at religious organizations at the three levels of congregations, judicatory officials, and denominational structures and their executives.
At the local congregational level, representatives of 549 randomly selected congregations in seven urban and rural regions around the country were interviewed. These congregations included groups from 91 different religious denominations and traditions, including independent churches. In addition to the primary interview, the project surveyed individual members and gathered more in-depth information in 32 of the congregations. The study aimed to discover the key mission and activities of these congregations and the organizations (both within their denominations and through other agencies) that help them do that work.
Pastoral Leadership Project (called Pulpit and Pew)
The Ormond Center of Duke Divinity School undertook a large-scale project focused on strengthening the quality of pastoral leadership. This project, directed by Jackson W. Carroll, was a collection of studies aimed at assessing the current state of pastoral leadership, both ordained and lay professionals. For more information about this project, see the resulting book God’s Potters: Pastoral Leadership and the Shaping of Congregations.
A similar study of clergy (The National Survey of Religious Leaders) was undertaken in 2019 by Mark Chaves of Duke University. This survey was a nationally representative sample of 1,600 clergy from across the religious spectrum. It surveyed religious leaders who work in congregations, including head clergy and other ministerial staff. It offers basic knowledge about religious leaders’ characteristics, beliefs, attitudes, values, and practices on a range of subjects. The National Survey of Religious Leaders website contains multiple reports and articles.
U.S. Congregational Life Survey Project
The U.S. Congregational Life Survey is the largest and most representative profile of worshipers in the United States. In April 2001, over half a million churchgoers and 7,000 congregations participated in the project. Parallel studies in three other countries—Australia, England, and New Zealand—surveyed over two million worshipers in 15,000 congregations. Cynthia A. Woolever was the principal investigator for the United States portion of this study. This project produced four books available on Amazon.
National Study of Youth and Religion
The National Study of Youth and Religion was a research project that began at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill under the direction of Dr. Christian Smith, Professor in the Department of Sociology and is now administered at the University of Notre Dame. This project, funded by Lilly Endowment Inc., began in August 2001 and continued until 2020. This project was designed to enhance our understanding of the religious lives of American adolescents. It included a national telephone survey of youth and their parents and in-depth interviews with a sub-sample of these youth.
The purpose of the project was to:
- Research the shape and influence of religion and spirituality in the lives of American adolescents
- Identify effective practices in the religious, moral, and social formation of the lives of youth
- Describe the extent and perceived effectiveness of the programs and opportunities that religious communities are offering to their youth
- Foster an informed national discussion about the influence of religion in youth’s lives to encourage sustained reflection on and rethinking of our cultural and institutional practices regarding youth and religion.
This study completed four rounds of research on the religious lives of US youth. Visit the National Study of Youth and Religion’s website for results, reports, and links to publications produced by this project.